Amsterdam

Archaeologists have discovered the wreck of a Russian battleship designed by Peter the Great in Amsterdam and which played a key role in a 1719 victory over Sweden in a war on the Baltic Sea.

A team including professional archeologists, divers, a film-producer and a cameraman located the 54-gun “Portsmouth” battleship at a 12-meter depth in the waters off Kotlin Island near Kronshtadt last week during final stages of a three-month mission as part of the “Secrets of the Sunken Ships” project.

The team was back on dry land on Tuesday.

We are currently lobbying for an immediate raising of the wrecks to serve both as a museum and as objects for research,” said Andrei Lukoshkov, head of the research team, adding that the discovery is unique because the ship, which was designed by Peter the Great, disappeared with another ship, the “London,” on the way back to the port of Kronshtadt.